Trouble on tour? Cricket is in better shape now if the players are being listened to

‘Player anxiety’ was central to curtailment of England’s South Africa tour whereas in bygone days any welfare concerns would have been swept under the carpet

A long, long winter awaits for the England team currently twiddling their thumbs, adjusting their masks and waiting for their flight from South Africa at the Vineyard hotel about a mile from Newlands in Cape Town, where they were supposed to be playing an ODI in front of empty stands and a muddy building site.

The abandonment of the tour in these circumstances is unprecedented but then we are living in strange times. Essentially it seems that the decision was taken because of increasing “player anxiety”, which is a reminder of how much has changed. In the past the telling arguments might have come from the British High Commission, the medical experts or Reg Dickason, the ECB’s long-standing adviser on security. But this time the input of the players was obviously critical.

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